Streetman, Gop Rose Together

The Republican Stalwart Is Leaving Office As Commissioner Reputed As Partisan But Fair.

September 24, 1992|By Mike Berry Of The Sentinel Staff

SANFORD — It was 1974. Streakers dashed, collars and ties flared, Patty Hearst robbed a bank, and the Republican Party was bleeding hard from Watergate.

Against that backdrop, a young Fred Streetman took charge of Seminole County's Republican Executive Committee. So began a long love affair between the man and the party.

Streetman went on to manage and advise countless campaigns. In November he leaves the County Commission after two terms. Though it was once speculated he might run for Congress, he said he has no other immediate plans for office.

Republicans now dominate the scene in Seminole County.

But when Streetman attended a Young Republicans Club meeting in 1972, he found a mob of three. He launched a membership campaign, signed up about 20 people, and got elected president.

In 1974, the same year President Nixon resigned, Streetman became chairman of the local party.

''A lot of people didn't talk about being Republican,'' said Streetman, 55. ''A lot of people just quit. We had to get away from personality, get away from stigma.

''Little by little, we built our party.''

He was not bred a Republican. His father, a North Carolina Dixiecrat, loathed the party, and his sister campaigned for George McGovern. But in 1964 Streetman was drawn to the GOP by Barry Goldwater's candor and strong defense posture.

Today his esteem in Republican circles is immeasurable.

''When you think of integrity and selfless giving to party, community and country, you will almost surely think of this person,'' said state committeeman Jim Stelling during a ceremony this year for his old friend.

At board meetings the commissioner earned a reputation for fairness and an open mind; he voted against two projects Stelling lobbied for. He also wielded a keen wit. Discussing once how newspaper headlines can distort a story's content, he ad-libbed, ''If headlines were true, I'd be in jail.''

But he also has his critics, who complain that he can be partisan to the point of vindictiveness. Even some Republicans think he goes overboard on party sanctity.

Ginger Bowman, a Democrat seeking his seat in November, thought Streetman was petty to scotch a small planned ceremony recently over the county's vote to lease property to a battered-spouse shelter she is behind. He was acting chairman that day.

Streetman, who endorses Republican Dick Van Der Weide in the race, grumbled that the county signs many leases without fanfare. On the other hand, photographers are ushered in for routine employee-of-the-month awards.

Two turbulent episodes marked Streetman's first term.

He was one of four commissioners who, in an unadvertised 2 a.m. vote, agreed to pay millionaire Jeno Paulucci $7.5 million for land at Yankee Lake to build a sewage treatment plant. Criticism of the 1985 deal led to two grand jury investigations, but no evidence of wrongdoing was found.

In 1988 Streetman asked county staff to photocopy a 560-page court file on Stelling's opponent for a party job who had a criminal record. Stelling paid for the work, but the public has no access to the county high-speed equipment.

Again there was criticism. But a grand jury said it would be hard to prove county equipment was used for political purposes.

County commissioners often latch onto pet projects. Not Streetman. This was a part-time job, and he was never one to offer written policy proposals. His attitude toward development bordered on laissez-faire, sometimes to the dismay of environmentalists and rural residents.

A sign in Streetman's office reads: ''The Lord Giveth, The Government Taketh Away.'' Despite his career in politics, he despises bureaucratic meddling.

''I'm not an alarmist,'' he said of big government. ''We just have to be vigilant and on guard.''